More and more Texans are shopping around for the cheapest electric rate and are leaving their old legacy energy provider, but a majority of Texas residents still buy electricity from the company that served them before they had a choice, passing up the savings available from competing energy suppliers. For customers still not shopping, SaveOnEnergy.com provides the simplest and easiest way to find the best electric rates out there.

ERCOT, the organization that runs the state’s electric gird, reported that customer switches to different electric companies were up "significantly" in June, an indication that customers reacted to higher June prices and shopped around for better deals. Customer switches reached 80,000 for the month, nearly double the total from May.

With prices now falling, it’s an even better time to shop, and this month’s numbers should exceed even June’s levels.

Additionally, ERCOT reported that 43% of residential customers have switched away from their old legacy provider, known as the Affiliated REP or AREP, as of June 30, 2008. That’s an increase from 39% a year ago. The AREPs are the companies like TXU, Reliant, CPL, WTU and First Choice Power that customers had been on before choice began, although sometimes under different names (like Houston Light & Power).

While the number of customers shopping for a better electric rate than that offered by their AREP is increasing, a majority of Texans are leaving money on the table by sticking with their AREP, even though they now have a choice for cheaper electric rates.

Two of the biggest reasons customers often cite for not switching, even when there are cheaper deals out there, is that shopping is confusing, and that they trust their AREP more than some of the new electric companies.

Fortunately, the online comparison website SaveOnEnergy.com has answered both of these concerns, and makes shopping for the best electric rate simple and pain free, while assuring customers that only high-quality, reputable energy providers are listed.

SaveOnEnergy.com culls through the hundreds of residential offers in the market to pick only the best deals, ranking companies on price, customer service, payment options, and bonus features like airline miles or rebates. SaveOnEnergy.com’s unique portal breaks down the offers into easy to understand comparisons, showing customers the rate as well as additional features of each offer, so customers can make a quick and easy comparison of the best offers.

Customers can also rest easy that the energy provider they choose through SaveOnEnergy.com will be reputable, financially secure, and won’t suddenly leave the market and strand customers. The energy suppliers vetted by SaveOnEnergy.com are every bit as reliable and dependable as the old AREPs, and in some cases, more so, with extended customer service hours and online service options. In fact, one of the old AREPs, First Choice Power, is considering selling its business, which means customers could be transferred to another provider.

In a quickly evolving Texas electric market, being with the AREP doesn’t give customers any additional security, and the electric companies on SaveOnEnergy.com are just as competent and stable and ready to provide dependable service at cheaper rates. With SaveOnEnergy.com vetting every aspect of their recommended energy suppliers, customers no longer have to pass up savings because they’re afraid of leaving their AREP.

Texans are seeing it across the state — falling energy prices , which means it’s a good time to shop for a new electricity rate for your home.

The statewide average for regular self-serve has fallen to $3.64/gallon, with prices in Houston falling 11¢ over the week to $3.60. It’s all because oil has dropped about $30 per barrel in the last month, and recently closed at under $114/barrel.

It also means Texas electric rates are sliding, and energy suppliers are offering their cheapest rates in months. Customers can find the cheapest electric rates at SaveOnEnergy.com , which makes electricity shopping a hassle-free breeze for residential customers, offering easy to understand comparisons of the best electric rates .

In the Dallas area, customers can lock-in a 12-month fixed price with MXenergy for just 14.2¢ per kilowatt-hour (kWh), which is anywhere from 10-20% lower than prevailing prices from June and July.

Dallas customers concerned that prices will keep falling have two good short-term options that will give customers price certainty for a short period of time, while serving as a bridge to the fall or winter when prices may be lower.

Cirro Energy’s "Smart Lock" six-month plan is only 14.1¢/kWh and is the cheapest Dallas area rate on SaveOnEnergy.com . Green Mountain Energy also offers a three-month plan for only 14.9¢ which gives customers the added benefit of pollution free power. Customers looking for a bonus with their electricity plan can choose Gexa Energy’s 12-month plan for only 15.3¢, which allows customers to earn either American Airlines or Continental Airlines frequent flyer miles simply for using electricity .

In Houston, Cirro’s "Smart Lock" six-month plan is the same price as in Dallas, just 14.1¢/kWh. The cheapest 12-month offer for Houston is 15.4¢/kWh, offered by both Cirro and MXenergy. That’s a big drop from 12-month price certainty plans that were in the 17-18¢ range just a month ago. Green Mountain’s three-month pollution free product is 15.9¢/kWh in Houston, while Gexa’s 12-month plan with bonus airline miles is 16.5¢.

Aside from giving customers a cheaper electric rate , the best part about SaveOnEnergy.com is that customers know they’ll be safe from losing their energy provider , which happened to about 40,000 customers who were buying from less stable firms earlier this summer.

But SaveOnEnergy.com only recommends financially robust electric companies with proven track records of excellent customer service and support. Customers can shop with peace of mind knowing they’re buying from fully vetted energy providers that aren’t going to leave them stranded.

Just last week, for example, Cirro Energy was bought by Dominion Retail , an electric company with operations in 12 states and 1.7 million customers, further strengthening Cirro’s position. All of the energy suppliers on SaveOnEnergy.com are similarly robust and reputable companies, and Texans can be sure they’re picking the right energy provider . Electric companies on SaveOnEnergy.com also ranked highly in a new customer satisfaction survey by J.D. Power, with Green Mountain and Gexa taking two of the top spots.

For the second straight week, falling natural gas prices are prompting Texas electric companies to lower their retail electric rates, as competition is forcing energy suppliers to match their competitors’ price cuts. It continues to be a good time to buy.

Now, August is normally the busiest time of the year for the sales and customer service departments at most Texas energy providers. It’s when customers start really shopping around for a cheaper electric rate after having received higher bills from summer air conditioning use. So getting the attention of an electric company to get a custom price quote or help you switch is normally a little bit tougher now than during any other time of the year.

But this year it’s even more difficult as energy providers have built up a backlog of customer requests for a couple of reasons. First, with record prices, energy suppliers are naturally getting more customer service calls from consumers angry about their bills. Second, higher bills have prompted customers, especially business owners looking for a custom price, to search out a cheaper rate, which has taxed the sales staff at many energy suppliers who are having to produce many more price quotes than they usually generate.

Now that Texas electric rates are falling, even more customers are shopping around and asking for quotes, and many energy providers are simply falling behind in answering all their customers’ requests. In order to keep prices down, electric companies aren’t top-heavy and don’t carry a lot of extra staff, meaning that when they are flooded with customer requests like they are now, it takes them longer to respond, and customers can become frustrated with that non-responsiveness.

How can Texas business customers get to the front of the line? By shopping for electricity through SaveOnEnergy.com, which offers businesses the opportunity to receive eight competing offers through one click of the mouse.

SaveOnEnergy.com is designed to pit eight electric companies in head-to-head competition for a customer’s business. Through SaveOnEnergy.com’s unique commercial retail exchange portal, business customers can instantly send their information and rate request to eight energy providers, who will then immediately respond directly to the customer.

Because electric companies know requests received through SaveOnEnergy.com also go to seven other suppliers, responding to quote requests from SaveOnEnergy.com become their first priority, and suppliers respond to customers as quickly as possible to avoid losing out on a deal. This makes getting a cheaper electric rate a faster and easier process for business customers, who don’t have to wait days or a week for their price quote and avoid having their request being buried or missed in the flood that energy suppliers are receiving daily.

SaveOnEnergy.com provides commercial customers with exclusive, one-click access to eight energy suppliers, and empowers them to cut through the backlog of quote requests to start saving money as soon as possible.

Texas businesses with fixed-price electricity deals expiring soon should not procrastinate renewing or finding a new energy supplier before their term price expires. To do so could expose businesses to wildly volatile electricity prices, the most expensive in the market.

The reason is that many electric companies have fixed-priced contracts which automatically renew. But instead of renewing onto the same or another fixed price, the contracts often automatically renew onto a variable rate which fluctuates with the wholesale cost of power. That means a business which has paid 12¢ per kilowatt-hour for 12 or 24 months could end up paying 18¢ to 20¢ per kilowatt-hour under that legalese of the contract.

Many customers aren’t aware of these automatic renewal clauses that can change how a customer’s electricity is priced. In fact, the Public Utility Commission is looking at that issue in a rulemaking, as reported by trade journal Energy Choice Matters.

Choosing a new electricity rate isn’t something that can be put off because of the risks in auto-renewals. Although it can be daunting sifting through the myriad of competing offers in the Texas energy market, the price of not picking a new plan, whether with the same energy supplier or a new provider, are too high to not take action.

Additionally, while business owners with a cheap electric rate that’s about to expire may not like the current price climate and want to put off signing another long-term deal to see if prices fall, they should still avoid simply letting their contract auto-renew in order to exercise some control over their price. Even if a business wants to wait and see if prices fall after the summer, they should sign a short-term or variable deal that gives them some certainty as to electricity costs, instead of relying on whatever pricing stipulation their energy supplier can use under their auto-renewal clause, which may include pass-throughs of expensive real-time charges.

SaveOnEnergy.com solves both of these problems for businesses. Its market-leading commercial retail exchange portal gives business owners a variety of competing quotes for cheap electricity with just a few clicks of the mouse, saving business owners time and money in trying to research every energy provider themselves. SaveOnEnergy.com’s commercial retail exchange portal also allows businesses to get custom offers to compare different types of electricity rates. For example, businesses with expiring term deals can ask for energy suppliers to provide quotes for both variable or short-term service, and for longer (12+ month) fixed-price offers, so they can evaluate whether they want to sign a new long-term deal now, or wait a few months. Business owners trying to get all those different, custom quotes from individual electric companies could take weeks if not a month, but SaveOnEnergy.com immediately alerts energy suppliers of the quote request, and suppliers jump into action so they don’t lose their potential customer to one of their competitors.

One more thing to keep in mind is that if a business owner wants to change electric companies, that switch can take time, meaning it’s best to put the switch request in at least 30 days before the expiration of the business’s current fixed-price contract, if not earlier. That will ensure that the switch occurs immediately upon expiration of the current contract, and the customer does not get stuck with their current supplier on a higher rate just because the business missed the switching window to avoid automatically renewing onto a high, variable rate. It’s best to ask your new supplier to do everything they can to expedite your switch if you’re only a few weeks away from your contract expiring to make sure your switch can go into effect when desired at the end of your current contract. But you’ll also want to be sure you don’t prematurely switch before your current fixed-price expires, both because it’s probably cheaper than any current electric rate, and because it could expose you to cancellation penalties. The best thing to do when switching is to share the expiration date of your current contract with your new supplier (which typically coincides with a scheduled meter read) and tell them you need to be switched over right after that date.

Two more Texas energy providers have bit the dust as record price volatility wreaks havoc on the market. Customers of eTricity have been switched to high-priced Providers of Last Resort (POLR), a safety net service designed for when an energy supplier goes out of business, while Riverway Power declared bankruptcy to avoid that process. With two prior failures at the end of May, four electric companies have recently failed, forcing about 35,000 customers onto the high-priced POLR service, where the average monthly bill could triple for some customers up to $300. Market experts predict more defaults among marginal energy suppliers if the wholesale market doesn’t calm down.

Customers on POLRs are being urged to switch quickly to find a lower electricity rate , but how do they avoid picking another clunker? Some websites, which claim to help customers pick the best electric company , prominently featured some of the now out-of-business providers like Riverway and National Power.

That’s what makes SaveOnEnergy.com different. It only lists offers from qualified energy suppliers to ensure customers aren’t left in the dark. Electric companies are screened by SaveOnEnergy.com’s industry experts, and only stable, financially healthy providers with seasoned, competent management are recommended. Energy suppliers must also have outstanding customer service, substantially lower rates, and innovative products and features.

SaveOnEnergy.com knows that teaser offers promising low prices may not be all they’re cracked up to be if the energy supplier can’t make good on the offer, and leaves the customer stranded and paying 30¢/kWh power, when most rates are less than half that.

That’s a sentiment echoed by one of SaveOnEnergy.com’s qualified suppliers, MXenergy, which called for tighter rules in the market.

"People are surprised to learn that the lowest price is not always the most reliable," MXenergy CEO Jeffrey Mayer said. "Customers know they shouldn’t buy their life insurance from the lowest cost carrier, and now they are learning to be cautious about whom they choose to supply them with power."

The energy suppliers on SaveOnEnergy.com are all battle-tested providers that know how to survive the ups and downs of the market. They aren’t new start-ups promising low electricity rates without having seen the volatility the market can bring.

Electric companies making the SaveOnEnergy.com cut include some of Texans’ traditional providers from before competition (TXU Energy and Direct Energy, which bought the old CPL and WTU utilities), competitors that have been around since the market opened six years ago (like Cirro Energy, Commerce Energy, Green Mountain Energy and Gexa Energy), and newer competitors who have entered Texas after successful operations in other states (like MXenergy and Hudson Energy).

While regulators have been urging POLR customers to switch to cheaper plans, customers who have doubts about the strength of their energy supplier should consider switching as well, to avoid the same fate as the 35,000 customers recently dropped to POLRs. While you might pay a few cents more upfront to switch to one of the energy providers vetted by SaveOnEnergy.com , switching now could save you from paying 30¢ for a month’s worth of power, and also gives you a chance to lock-in an electricity rate now before the summer price spikes really kick in.

For customers that have been dropped to a POLR, they can speed their transition to a new, cheaper energy provider by requesting an off-cycle meter read, and waiving a mailed notification about the supplier switch. Many electric companies will now offer to waive the typical off-cycle meter reading fee for POLR customers as a goodwill gesture and to win the customer’s business.

With Memorial Day ushering in the unofficial start of summer, it also means Texas businesses will soon be using more electricity to run air conditioners, and paying traditionally higher summer prices. With energy prices still rising unabated, what are business owners to do?

Locking-in a fixed price contract will carry a premium, but buying power completely on the floating market price, called the Market Clearing Price for Energy (MCPE) is even more risky. Considering natural gas, the biggest driver of Texas electricity rates, hit a record $11.70/Mmbtu last week, and neared $12 in intraday trading, customers can expect a volatile summer of MCPE rates, especially at peak times. Natural gas prices were further pushed higher when federal weather forecasters at NOAA predicted nine Atlantic hurricanes this summer. Even one hurricane hitting the energy-producing Gulf Coast could cause energy prices to reach unthinkable levels.

Energy suppliers realize the quandary customers are in, and have developed special products meant to deal with the dual risks of locking-in prices at the wrong time, and volatile peak energy prices. They’re known as hybrid or blended products, and basically split a business’s power usage so that some is billed on a fixed price, and some is billed on the floating wholesale rate. The blended products give customers the chance to reap savings from potential decreases in the MCPE, while softening any price spikes, since only a part of their energy usage is exposed to volatile peak prices.

Eight energy providers competing head-to-head at SaveOnEnergy.com offer a variety of blended, hybrid and other customized products to insulate business owners from excessive risk, while still giving them chance to ride the market.

For example, many energy suppliers offer a hybrid product that allows a business to choose a percentage of their load to be billed at a locked-in fixed price, with the remainder on the prevailing MCPE rate. One supplier notes that over time, it’s rare that a customer can time the market and choose the best time to completely lock-in their load. And even when they do, the savings is often minimal, less than 1¢ per kilowatt-hour, compared with an over 1¢ premium they are paying for a fixed-price contract, plus the risk of locking-in a price just before energy prices fall.

Essentially, no one can predict electric rates. While summer prices are traditionally higher, last July was one of the least expensive months to buy on MCPE from a monthly average standpoint, due to much cooler than normal weather. And so-called "shoulder" months, such as March and October that are in-between summer and winter peaks and thus expected to produce lower prices, aren’t immune from wild MCPE spikes. While usage may be lower, many power plants shut down for maintenance during these months, meaning normally small transmission problems or an unexpected power plant outage could cause greater strain on the power grid, shooting prices upward. In fact, that’s what happened in April 2006, when unexpected outages and record heat caused rolling blackouts in parts of Texas. It almost happened again in February after a sharp decline in wind power and other power plant unavailability. That’s why a strategy which hedges a customer’s load between a fixed price and MCPE is preferable.

Another type of hybrid product is an on-peak/off-peak deal that offers a fixed price at on-peak times – those times when energy use is highest, such as late afternoon. MCPEs are highest and most volatile during these peak times because of the demand all customers are placing on the electric system, so a fixed price avoids wild price spikes caused by a power plant or power line outage at these critical times. At off-peak times, customers pay the MCPE, which is typically lower off-peak as fewer customers are using power and there is much less strain on the grid. There’s much less risk in any spikes in MCPE during these off-peak times. The product is best suited for customers who use more energy in off-peak times since they’ll be able to reap the most benefit of the lower MCPEs.

Most electric companies provide the opportunity for customers to convert their blended products into fully fixed products as well, if customers decide they want more price protection after experimenting with the MCPE.

Customers are a mouse click away from getting up to eight custom, blended pricing offers from eight vetted and certified energy suppliers at SaveOnEnergy.com. Customers can simply enter their information and request a blended or hybrid product, and receive the energy suppliers’ best quotes for their business.

As gasoline, natural gas and other energy prices continue to reach new records, Texas businesses are increasingly shopping around for a better deal from their electricity provider . But doing all the research and calling every energy supplier for a quote can be a confusing and time-consuming process — time business owners need to spend running their businesses and helping their customers.

Fortunately, someone has made getting energy price quotes from eight leading and reputable electricity suppliers a simple process that takes just a few seconds with one click of the mouse.

SaveOnEnergy.com’s one-of-a-kind Commercial Retail Exchange Portal for the Texas electricity market puts business owners in the driver’s seat, and gives them direct competitive bids from eight vetted energy suppliers .

SaveOnEnergy.com has done all the legwork in checking out the energy suppliers , ensuring that they have high levels of customer service and satisfaction, and innovative products that can save business owners money.

All that business owners have to do is enter their typical monthly electric bill payment into SaveOnEnergy.com’s portal, plus their address and contact information, and eight energy suppliers can instantly compete head to head for the customer’s business. The electric providers contact the customer directly with their best offer, meaning there’s no intermediary adding time to the shopping process.

And the eight electric providers — Ambridge Energy, Cirro Energy, Direct Energy, LPT (Liberty Power), Reliant Energy, Spark Energy, Suez Energy Resources NA and TXU Energy – rapidly respond to the customer’s information, sometimes giving a quote instantly. They pursue contacts from SaveOnEnergy.com more aggressively than those from other sales channels, and accordingly do everything they can to give business owners their lowest possible offer to win the account from their seven competitors. That’s a winning proposition for business owners.

The electricity providers can also customize pricing to be unique to the business owner’s needs, but still respond within 2-3 days, so business owners can make a quick, but informed, decision and reap savings as soon as possible.

SaveOnEnergy.com’s commercial electric portal includes an area for business owners to request unique products or special attributes, such as the desire for carbon-free renewable power, or a product lasting a specific length of time. Business owners often include their typical monthly usage (in kilowatt-hours) and their so-called “ESI ID” (a special identification number) to facilitate greater customization of price quotes.

Business owners can also choose to let specific electricity providers, or all of them, access their past electric usage to allow for greater product customization and lower price offers, by completing a “Letter of Authorization.”

The end result is that business owners are able to get price quotes easier and faster, from reputable electric suppliers who will be in the marketplace for a long time and have a history of satisfied customers. That makes shopping for electricity more comfortable and less stressful, and providers business owners a real solution to rising energy bills.